Audience Analysis: LPGA ANA Inspiration Down From Last Year, But Still Up From '13

Golf Channel drew 364,000 viewers for the final round of the LPGA ANA Inspiration last Sunday from 4:59-10:10pm ET, which was the tour’s first major of the year and saw Brittany Lincicome defeat Stacy Lewis in a playoff. The event, previously called the Kraft Nabisco Championship, saw final round viewership drop 46% from last year, when Lexi Thompson held off Michelle Wie and the net drew a record-setting 670,000 viewers. Despite being down from ’14, the final round last Sunday was up 32% from 276,000 viewers in ’13, when Inbee Park held off So Yeon Ryu (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). 

NOTES: The Blues this season on FS Midwest averaged a 4.9 rating, their "highest rating" on the net in 18 seasons. The rating marks the "fifth season in a row a new high has been established." This year's average was "fueled by a record single-game regular-season Blues rating" on FSM -- an 8.5 for their 1-0 loss to the Jets on Tuesday -- which "ended up on its main channel as well as FSM Plus." The previous mark, a 7.4, came for a game against the Predators in '13 (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 4/10)....Wednesday's Rockets-Spurs game drew a 13.7 overnight rating on FS Southwest, the highest for a Spurs regular-season game on the net since a '11 matchup with the Celtics. The telecast was the No. 1 program of the day in San Antonio (FSSW). 

The charts below list final ratings and viewership for recent sports telecasts.